Abstract
Current research into music and free dance movement explores differences in corporeal articulation of basic emotions. Accordingly, Van Dyck et al. (2014, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0089773) report congruent emotion recognition in free dance movements recorded after happiness or sadness inductions in lay dancers. The current study replicates this previous study with an advanced methodological approach measuring ratings of happiness and sadness recognition separately within both happy and sad conditions. We then tested the differences between the recognition of happiness and sadness in free dance movements. Therefore, a dance movement pre-study was conducted in two different conditions where either happiness or sadness were induced within four lay dancers using guided imagery and music listening. Subsequent to this, dancers were video recorded while moving freely to a neutral piece of music. Those silenced video recordings were then presented to participants (N = 37) in an online experiment, who were instructed to rate the emotion they recognised. Based on the Effort-Shape Theory by Rudolf Laban, observers also rated kinematic features of velocity/acceleration, directness, impulsiveness and expansion. Participants rated higher levels of happiness for the happy-induction condition compared to sadness. However, participants rated higher levels of sadness in the sad condition compared to happiness for just one of the four dancers. This finding indicates that it is easier to recognise happiness in free dance movements than sadness. The results of the kinematic features supported previous research which rated higher intensities for the happy condition than the sad condition.
Highlights
MethodsDance Movement Video StimuliBased on previous research and studying the differences in corporeal articulation between happy and sad conditions (Camurri et al, 2003; De Meijer, 1989; Van Dyck et al, 2013, 2014), we were able form a criterion on which to base the video stimulus production
In the happy condition happiness ratings increased in most dancers (Figure 1), while sadness ratings decreased or did not change
The graph suggests that Dancer 1 expresses emotion through direct, strong, impulsive and flexible movements, whilst Dancer 4 shows the opposite; indirect, light, sustained and constrained movements. These results propose that Dancer 1 showed more kinematic features that equate to emotions of happiness and Dancer 4 displayed more kinematic features associated with sadness
Summary
Dance Movement Video StimuliBased on previous research and studying the differences in corporeal articulation between happy and sad conditions (Camurri et al, 2003; De Meijer, 1989; Van Dyck et al, 2013, 2014), we were able form a criterion on which to base the video stimulus production. Happy conditions showed elements of more acceleration, impulsiveness and faster movement than sadness. Based on the theory of shape, happy conditions reveal expansion and limbs projected higher and further from the centre of the body, whereas sad condition movements were contracted and closer to the centre of the body. Using this knowledge, the video recordings of the pre-study were analysed through qualitative observation of the first author of this manuscript. Sections showing examples of kinematic features that could support the recognition of both happy and sad emotions were identified that way. Cutting the recordings into 8 ten-second-long clips (two excerpts for each of the four dancers) allowed for plenty of examples of the kinematic features from the Laban Effort/Shape theory to be presented in an online experiment that was supposed to last only a few minutes
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